


i can't go back to yesterday because i was a different person then: an analysis of artemis fowl ii

by fowlbyname45



Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: Character Analysis, Character Study, Gen, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28177473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fowlbyname45/pseuds/fowlbyname45
Summary: A fan essay attempting to dive into the characterization of Artemis Fowl II, especially how he relates to childlike innocence, how he can be relatable to the reader, and his connection to the archetype of the tragic hero from ancient Greek plays.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	i can't go back to yesterday because i was a different person then: an analysis of artemis fowl ii

  
  


Artemis Fowl is the protagonist of the young adult sci-fi/fantasy series of the same name written by Irish author Eoin Colfer. He is a genius, a millionaire, and, at the start of the series at least, a self-proclaimed teenage criminal mastermind. The books start off with his beloved father, Artemis Fowl Senior, being lost and presumed dead in the Arctic after a business deal in Russia went awry, while his mother Angeline is in the middle of an extended period of severe depression and hallucinations due to her husband’s disappearance. In this essay, I want to attempt to go over some of the parts of his character that I find the most interesting and attempt to explain why he works as a protagonist. 

Artemis the Second was raised by his father to follow the Fowl family motto, _Aurum est potestas_ (which means “gold is power” in Latin), in any way he can. In fact, one of the most present memories he has of his childhood is Artemis Senior repeating this phrase to him and reading the book _The Crock of Gold_ to his son before he went to sleep. The story is about a boy who captures a leprechaun in a vain attempt to steal their gold, a relatively common archetype in old Irish fiction that Artemis himself is an example - and even subversion - of. The Fowl patriarch tells young Artemis “That boy had the right idea. A little more planning and he would have pulled it off” ( _Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex_ , 1 and 2). This is implied to have had a great impact on Artemis, and is part of what causes him to look for evidence that leprechauns and other species of fairy do indeed exist, with the intention of stealing their gold, once his father disappears. Artemis has a very innocent belief in the supernatural (which makes sense, as he is only twelve years of age at the start of the series). The first book states “[Artemis] still retained a childlike belief in magic, tempered by an adult determination to exploit it” ( _Artemis Fowl,_ 19). Most people of Artemis’s intelligence wouldn’t even think for a moment on the existence of fairies, but he does. This is what I want to talk about in this portion of the essay - how Artemis as a character relates to childlike innocence and belief.

Artemis is a very accepting and curious person, traits that are some of his more redeemable ones at the start of the series and which the fact that he looks for evidence on the existence of fairies mostly because his father read him stories about them when he was young is an example of. Another example is when he meets Holly Short again in _Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception_ after his mind was wiped at the end of _Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code._ He no longer retains his memories of the fairy People, yet accepts what Holly tells him about them and his involvement with said group immediately: “‘Very well,’ he said. ‘I don’t remember any of this, but I believe you. I accept that we humans have fairy neighbors below the planet’s surface’” ( _Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception,_ 123). He follows this up with an explanation of how he took her story and cross-referenced it with the facts as he knew them, and how the fact he found mirrored contact lenses in his and the Butlers' eyes after the mind wipe only supported this theory (as he bought those lenses in order to cheat the People’s magical _mesmer_ at the end of _Code_ ). But all this goes to show that Artemis is willing to accept anything if he has evidence to support it - an innocent and almost childlike way of thinking. 

The Irish boy is also very curious - he “longed to know everything there was to know, so he read book after book until his brain swelled with...a hundred subjects” ( _Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex,_ 1). He wants to use his considerable intellect to gather knowledge about everything, and the pursuit of thinking is described as his “favorite occupation” ( _Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception,_ 320). Discovery and the spirit of inquiry are large parts of Artemis’s psyche and character, which are also reasonably childlike traits. Now, Artemis is not _childish_ \- he was forced to grow up very quickly due to his difficult family situation, and is described by Holly Short as “a child who treated everyone like children” ( _Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception,_ 125). However, he is usually the youngest in a group of characters at any given moment throughout the series and does retain several innocent qualities that would normally not be associated with someone of his IQ.

In this next portion of the essay I want to focus on how Artemis can be relatable to the reader (especially ones in the teen age group) despite the fact that it’s unlikely any real teenager could truly have his level of intellect or amount of wealth. Artemis is first introduced as a character who doesn’t want to be understood - the prologue of the first book states “There is no doubt that Artemis is a child prodigy. But why does someone of such brilliance dedicate himself to criminal activities? This is a question that can be answered by only one person. And he delights in not talking” ( _Artemis Fowl,_ 1). He is standoffish, cold, and even rude to the people around him that he doesn’t have some sort of connection to (such as his family, the Butlers, or Holly), and it takes time to form the connection necessary for him to be emotionally vulnerable with a person. Artemis is very socially awkward and doesn’t have many - if any - friends in his age group, with maybe the exception of Juliet Butler (and even she is four years older than him). He is so limited in what is deemed normal social interaction that his bodyguard and father figure Domovoi Butler describes him as “the loneliest boy he’d ever met” ( _Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident,_ 53). The concept of it being difficult to relate to the people around them is I think a familiar one to many modern teenagers. 

Artemis also has a great need to succeed and determination is a driving force behind his personality - getting a “mere ninety-nine percent” on a math exam is what he describes as his most embarrassing moment during his “interview” in _The Artemis Fowl Files._ This is another aspect of his character that I can see as being relatable, especially to children put into gifted programs. These children often feel immense pressure during testing - according to an article on gifted children at familyeducation.com, “Many struggle with testing because of the sky-high expectations they feel when they sit down for an exam.” It’s implied that Artemis dealt with this as well at some point during his school career. (Other challenges that gifted children face cited in the article are guilt, control issues, and problems with friendships, all things that Artemis exhibits as well.) 

Another point I’d like to discuss is that the boy’s parents are constantly trying to get him to change himself - even though his father was the one who raised him to believe there was more profit to be gained on the shady side of the law, when he returns after being rescued from the Arctic he expects his son to do a complete one-eighty and “take his chance to be a hero” ( _Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code,_ 160), and his mother is always pressuring him to be a more “normal” teenager (i.e. wear t-shirts and jeans rather than his usual designer suit, talk to more people his age, et cetera). There are some questionable connotations in having parents who are largely framed as good people while pressing their own belief systems upon Artemis. However, despite this, Artemis loves them more than anything - he tells Angeline he loves her “more than life” as she’s (unbeknownst to him at the time) possessed by the evil pixie Opal Koboi ( _Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox,_ 319) and many of the crimes he commits (such as stealing gold in _Artemis Fowl_ to fund expeditions to find his missing father and stealing the Fei Fei tiara for his mother in _The Seventh Dwarf_ for the sole reason that the diamond inside of it was the same color as his father’s eyes) are for their benefit. According to an article on generationz.com about parents to the younger generation, it states “Parents are a big role model to their children, who want to be just like them. The poor habits of parents...rubs off onto children.” The concept of being dedicated to one’s family no matter what, being influenced by them, and even growing up in a belief system set up by them that the child comes to realize they disagree with (for example, Artemis’s changing views about his father’s criminal past) is something I think many teens go through and my third and final point about Artemis’s relatability. 

The last thing I’d like to address concerning Artemis’s character is his connection to the tragic hero of ancient Greek plays. An article on said type of character on literarydevices.net states: “Essentially, for a character to be a tragic hero, they must have some sort of initial virtue that makes them powerful, charismatic, or heroic in the minds of the audience. In addition, tragic heroes must possess some sort of tragic flaw as a part of their internal make-up or nature that makes them at least partially responsible for their own destruction. Finally, a tragic hero should suffer a reversal of fortune from good to bad, often leading to death or punishment that appears to be greater than deserved.” To start out, I would say that Artemis’s “initial virtue” is his love for his family (and the friends he has come to regard as family) that I discussed in the previous paragraph. In the first book of the series where he is largely seen as an antagonist as well as being a main protagonist, his love for his family is what keeps the reader engaged with and sympathetic towards him as a character. This aspect of him as a person continues to be one of his most redeemable qualities throughout the series. 

Moving on, I would say that Artemis’s tragic flaw is not one of hubris as it is for many of these types of characters from Greek tragedies, but rather one of guilt. His tendency to feel extremely guilty for actions he made in the past (especially kidnapping Holly Short, who by the end of the books is his best friend) eventually becomes very damaging to his mental health. It’s what gives him the fictional disease common in converted criminals called the Atlantis Complex in the seventh installment of the series, and eventually what kills him in _Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian_ , the eighth and final book. He is often very reckless and puts himself into danger due to a need to prove to the people around him that he is a better person now - one who is capable of sacrificing for those he loves. This is especially evident in _Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian_ when he decides that, since he’s human (and a human who notoriously always has a plan), he needs to be the one to close the Berserker Gate and literally sacrifice his life for the good of the world. At this point of the series, Artemis is a boy who simply wants to be seen as _good_ , or as good as his family and friends; he wants to be seen as worthy of the love they give him. Essentially, his guilt is what drives him to sacrifice himself at the end of _Guardian_ (a decision that seems drastic and almost suicidal) so it is, in essence, what kills him - another requirement of a tragic flaw.

In conclusion, Artemis’s character is a dynamic, well thought-out one that grows, changes, and becomes an almost completely different person than the one he is at the start of his story (i.e. by the end, his past self is metaphorically and literally dead). I hope you enjoyed this fan essay, and I hope I shone some light on the _Artemis Fowl_ series - particularly Artemis’s character - that you might not have seen before.

**Author's Note:**

> sources:  
> -9 Challenges Facing Gifted Children (and How You Can Help!): https://www.familyeducation.com/school/coping-giftedness/9-challenges-facing-gifted-children-how-you-can-help  
> -Parents - Generation Z: https://generationz.com.au/articles/parents/  
> -Tragic Hero - Examples and Definition of Tragic Hero: https://literarydevices.net/tragic-hero  
> &  
> -excerpts from the artemis fowl series by eoin colfer


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